This study examines the construction and meaning of International Baccalaureate (IB) schools as manifested by schools in four locations: Chicago, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates. Through analysis of schools' websites, we identify three major approaches towards constructing the schools' image: globally acknowledged quality,…

This report presents key findings from "Learning in the Fast Lane: The Past, Present, and Future of Advanced Placement," by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Andrew E. Scanlan, and published by Princeton University Press in 2019. American education has long been plagued by excellence gaps among the young people who make it into the highest levels…

The National Math + Science Initiative (NMSI) is a nonprofit organization committed to improving educational outcomes that traces its roots back to the early 1990s. NMSI's College Readiness Program (CRP) is a long-standing program with the goal of promoting STEM education in high schools to improve students' preparation for college. The three-year…

Background: In schools accredited as "IB World Schools" by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), teachers use IB curriculum and pedagogy to teach a range of courses that are intended to prepare IB-enrolled students for college. Over the past 18 years, the number of U.S. schools that implement IB programs has increased…

Illinois education policymakers have adopted the completion agenda that emphasizes increasing postsecondary credential attainment. Meeting completion agenda goals necessitates addressing the achievement gap. To aid in developing policy to support improved completion, this study analyzes a comprehensive statewide dataset of the 2003 Illinois high…

In December 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB), as the nation's major law governing public schools. ESSA retains the requirement that states test all students in reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school, as well as the requirement that…

Educating students in public schools has never been at a higher priority. As this nation enters the informational-based economy public schools are going to be required to educate far more students at a higher and more rigorous level. Inspired by theories of educational equity, this study sought to explore the problem that not all students in…

Early college schools are succeeding at our nation's most daunting educational challenge--propelling students from underserved backgrounds to graduate high school and earn postsecondary degrees. These schools combine high school and college in rigorous, yet supportive environments that embrace acceleration over remediation. Their "college for…

The main goals of this implementation study were to: (1) examine how the grant recipients were implementing the changes set forth in their grant proposals; (2) identify initial barriers to implementation of grant activities; (3) identify catalysts that aided in goal attainment and/or partnership development; and (4) consider the sustainability of…

In 1997, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced an ambitious plan to open 13 International Baccalaureate Diploma Programs (IBDP) in neighborhood high schools throughout the city. Hoping to replicate the success achieved in the long-standing IB program at Lincoln Park High School, the scale of the IB experiment was unmatched by any other school…

This report examines the path to college for students in academically advanced programs-- graduates of Chicago's seven Selective Enrollment schools, those who completed International Baccalaureate programs, and graduates who had taken a sequence of at least six honors and two Advanced Placement classes. This report expands on the findings of…

This study evaluates a curriculum policy that required college preparatory coursework for all students, using data from Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Beginning in 1997, CPS ended remedial coursework and required all students to complete a college-preparatory course sequence for graduation. In this study, the authors constrain their analysis to the…

There is a national movement to universalize the high school curriculum so that all students graduate prepared for college. The present work evaluates a policy in Chicago that ended remedial classes and mandated college preparatory course work for all students. Based on an interrupted time-series cohort design with multiple comparisons, this study…

The principal purpose of this project was to find what, if any, early indicators exist to identify incoming students whose academic performance in high school would be high. The corollary objective was to consider what types of intervention strategies might be designed to assure that students so identified would fulfill their early promise. An…

This paper examines some of the major problems and barriers faced by Hispanic/Latino youth who, despite high college enrollment rates, do not complete the four-year degree. An examination of five entering classes of Illinois college students found that only 30.2 percent of Hispanic students had completed their degrees at the end of four years,…